Jaune Arc, Gamer Extraordinaire
by Lamina Ashen
Summary: Jaune Arc was a normal teen. He had A loving family, A civilian school, a normal life, and a dream. The dream had been unreacheable... Or it had been, until this Gamer thing popped out during one morning. And from there on, his life would be anything but normal. And it all started, with an uncommon day in his common life. Likely JaunexHarem.
1. Chapter 1

**Jaune Arc, The Gamer**

 **Chapter 1: Starting Out.**

Jaune Arc was a fairly normal teenager.

He went to a civilian school since Signal didn't accept him.

He had a fairly uncommon family, with 1 father, 1 mother and 7 sisters. They loved him, and he loved them.

But however, day after day, despite failling to enter Signal, he still dreamed of becoming a hero.

And this dream of his sipped into his daily life.

By playing games, of course! There he could be a powerful huntsman, a mage, a knight, and many other heroes that saved the day.

So after many games, and many hours, Jaune Arc had started to dedicate a little too much time into his games.

Sure, he kept his grades decent, just enough so his parents wouldn't ask for more. He also made sure to do his chores, to help his mother and his sisters whenever they needed it.

But that was about it.

The rest of his free time was all placed in his games. He didn't go out, just for school and to shop things for his mother. Nothing else, Nothing more.

So when Friday came around, he finished his chores at top-speed, and then pulled an all-nighter for a new RPG he found, The Wizard of Emerald Tower.

He passed out somewhere around the moment the sun decided to shine through his window.

Barely sleeping for an hour on his desk, he got up grumpy and stiff like a board, but satisfied that he managed to finish his game, right before passing out too!

Groaning, he leaned back into his chair and stretched.

It was at that moment that something out of the ordinary happened.

The appearence of a blue screen, right in front of him.

He fell back with his chair in suprise and shock, hitting the ground with a thud.

Another screen appeared as he barely had the time to stop himself from screaming.

He looked at them, and read the information.

 **You have suffered 5 points of damage**

and...

 **You have slept on your hard wooden desk.**

 **Your HP and AP have been restored half-way.**

 **You have suffered the stiff debuff.**

 **-10% to Dexterity and Speed.**

 **To get rid of: Stretch for 5 minutes**

Jaune Arc could be made to scream from multiple things, such as insects, grimm, large dogs...and the list went on.

But however, there were almost no things that could make him silent.

Gulping rather loudly, he stared at the screen, then smacked himself on the cheek to try and get out of whatever dream he was stuck in.

It didn't work.

Looking back at the screen, he waved at it from right to left, and the two screens dispersed.

His eyes wide, he stared at his hands, as if a miracle had just occured.

Then, he stared back at the place where the screens where.

'What...was that? Am I too tired? Did I imagine that?'

'What did it say again?... To stretch for 5 minutes to get rid of the debuff?'

Looking left and right, he shrugged uncaring.

'So if I stretch there's a chance of me losing a debuff, from a blue screen that I can't manage if it was real or an exhaustion caused hallucination, and if it proves out to be fake I still get the exercise, but if it proves to be true...'

Shaking his head and thinking that it's nothing, he still pulls out his scroll, starts the cronometer function and stretches.

4 minutes pass with nothing happening, but Jaune doesn't get disencouraged, and continues his exercises.

The moment 5 minutes have passed, Jaune prepared himself for the blue screen.

And defying all odds, it appeared.

 **Status: Stiff has been removed**

Jaune went through a huge amount of emotions, all at once. Amazement, shock, suprise, all of incredible intensity, before, at once, they all simply stopped and Jaune calmed down, almost unaffected and able to think rationally.

It was at that point that another screen appeared in front of him, this time, with a yes or no option.

 **Do you wish to go through the tutorial?**

 **[Yes]/[No]**

The blonde gulped yet again, before the calm feeling re-appeared, and he pressed yes.

 **Welcome to the Tutorial of [The Gamer]**

 **Here are the things that you should know about:**

 **-The Status Screen**

 **-The Inventory**

 **-The Perk System**

 **-Abilities**

 **-Skills**

 **-Equipment**

 **The Inventory is the place where the gamer can store his belongins, and from there he can retrieve them at any location, at any time. It can not store live being, only objects and carcasses.**

 **The Status Screen is the screen where the player can observe his stats, debuffs, buffs, allocate points into his stats, see which passive abilities are activated, along with his HP and AP.**

 **The stats are as follows:**

 **Experience: After reaching the given limit to experience, the player levels up. The limit is equal to your level times 1000**

 **Might: The User's ability to deliver strong melee attacks, lift things, and carry more.**

 **Vitality: The User's ability to survive and endure strong poisons, bleeding, and other various debuffs. Directly influences HP and HP regeneration (1 point of Vitality= 25 HP = 0.25HP regeneration per second)**

 **Endurance: The User's ability to keep fighting for long periods of time and to move fast while burdened heavily by armor or objects. It influences directly HP(to a lesser degree), SP, and SP regeneration. (1 point of endurance = 10 points of HP = 15 points of stamina = 0.50 stamina regeneration per second.)**

 **Dexterity: The User's ability to use and master weapons with complicated attack patterns, or simple ones far more than others. Influences the user's ability to dodge attacks.**

 **Speed: The User's ability to move and attack at fast intervals.**

 **Intelligence: The User's stat that allows a larger aura pool, and strenghtens the user's aura attacks. (1 point of Intelligence = 25 AP)**

 **Wisdom: The User's ability to think fast, form higher plans, and regenerate AP (1 point of Wisdom = 0.5 AP regen per second)**

 **Charisma: The User's ability to rally others on his side, be perceived as attractive, get lower prices on markets, and increase his ability to avoid conflict by using words instead of fighting.**

 **Luck: This stat dictates how lucky the individual is, how many drops of higher quality he gets, his encounter chances, and more. It can be compared to fate itself.**

 **And the 3 pools of the player.**

 **HP:The amount of Hit points the player has, the amount of damage they can take before they die. (Base amount is 300)**

 **AP:The amount of Aura the player has, which tanks in place of HP until is emptied, and can be used for more powerful attacks. (Base amount is 500)**

 **SP:The amount of stamina a player has, which equals to how much he can put effort into something until they tire. (Base amount is 100)**

 **The Perk System is the system that allows a perk to be taken every 10 levels. These are various, all having effects on stats, on various abilities and skills, and so. Perks can also be given at birth.**

 **Abilities are the usable abilities that the player holds and that can be used with various costs. (HP, AP, SP)**

 **Skills are abilities that are passively activated. They might increase stats, or offer various bonuses. Combat only.**

 **Equipment: The User's equiped items. (Armor, weapons, rings...)**

 **To call each one of them out, please state them in your mind, and they will appear.**

Jaune was, to say the least shocked, at the sheer amount of information and detail. Taking a deep breath, he started to go through them.

"Status Screen."

 **Jaune Arc**

 **Title: The Gamer**

 **Level: 3**

 **Exp: 0/3000**

 **Experience Points: 0**

 **HP: 425**

 **AP: 875 (Locked)**

 **SP: 160**

 **Stats:**

 **Might: 5**

 **Vitaliy: 5**

 **Endurance: 5**

 **Dexterity: 3**

 **Speed: 4**

 **Intelligence: 3**

 **Wisdom: 5**

 **Charisma: 7**

 **Luck: 20**

 **Inventory: Empty**

 **Perks: Arc bloodline (+100AP per level)**

 **Abilities:**

 **Skills:**

 **Gamer's Mind: Makes the user incapable of being mind-attacked, and lets him stay calm under all conditions.**

 **Gamer's Body: Makes the user recover his HP and AP over night, and allows modifications by stat increase.**

 **Equipment:**

Jaune stared at his stats, and deflated, once he saw that he had no stats in the double digits except for luck.

But then, as if answering his prayers, the game sent him another blue screen.

 **You have been given 5 points to allocate into your stats.**

 **Spend them wisely.**

 **And also you have been given a locket of Aura regeneration.**

 **This is the end of the tutorial, as you go on, you will learn of the more advanced details of The Gamer.**

 **Until then however, fight, grow, and don't forget to have fun.**

 **Good Luck!**

Smiling at his new-found strange ability, he recalled status one more time.

Because of the gifted locket, he figured there was no point in putting points into wisdom, and with his perk, intelligence was also covered. So that left him with a bunch of stats left to raise, 6 to be exact.

Might, Vitality and Endurance were all 5, while Charisma was 7, so he figured he could raise the 2 left to 5, using 3 points, bringing Speed and Dexterity to 5. With two points left, he compared his pools, and found stamina to be far smaller than the other two. He figured he could go out on a jog to see how stamina is compared to HP, to see if it's small or large. He fell from the chair with a little bit of force and lost 5 HP, which, to his total 425 was quite small.

But until then, he'd allocate the last two points to dexterity, and go from there, see what he could do.

And so Dexterity now rested at a confortable 7.

Now, with the changes made, he exited the status screen, and felt the change

Feeling satisfied with this, he brought up his inventory, and saw the locket inside.

It was round, with a book inscribed on it. He put one hand on it, and slowly pulled.

His breath hitched as the very air around his inventory twistead, and he pulled out his locket.

As it came out fully, he dismissed his inventory with a wave of his hand, and then looked at the locket in his hands.

 **An Ability has been created: Observe**

 **By looking close to an object, you are able to discern it's uses.**

Grinning from ear to ear, he used observe at the item in his hands.

 **Locket of Mana Regeneration**

 **+5 AP Regeneration per second.**

 **Would you like to equip this item?**

 **[Yes]/[No]**

Tapping yes, he felt the locket appear on his neck.

Honestly, he should be panicking right about now, but maybe it was the Gamer's Mind acting up.

All he knew and felt was that he had gained an awesome power, and that it held a lot of potential.

His eyes gleamed.

'I can be a hero!'

It no longer was such a distant dream, it was a possibility.

Turning around, he looked at the mirror in his room.

He was pretty tall for his age. 1.70m at 14 years was pretty tall, even though he was almost 15, in a month's time.

Turning around, he figured he should go down to have breakfeast.

His new-found power suddenly decided to interfer with that train of thought.

 **Quest received!**

 **Quest are missions that the Game will give you.**

 **By completing them, you gain rewards. Quests can be given with a refusable option, and sometimes, under certain circumstances, can't be refused.**

 **An Uncommon Morning to an Uncommon Day:**

 **Your family expects you to come down in 5 hours for breakfeast.**

 **Go out, gather your own food, eat it, and come back in the time-limit.**

 **Bonus goals: (They can be done for extra rewards, but not necessary to finish the quest.)**

 **?**

 **?**

 **?**

 **Rewards:**

 **10000 Experience points**

 **Skill: Survivalist**

 **Bonus Rewards: (For Bonus Goals Only)**

 **?**

 **?**

 **?**

He smiled initially, but then looked on at the rest of the quest with narrowed eyes.

Taking a walk for food into a non-grimm infested forest, while not the most dangerous thing to do, wasn't the safest either.

But 1000 exp meant 2 level and a half of the next, plus some.

Add on to that, a skill, and 3 other possible rewards, if he played his cards right.

Despite the seemingly dangerous quest that he would refuse by all means normally, he only felt drawn to the rewards, and couldn't stop himself in time from tapping the accept button.

'An uncommon morning for an uncommon day indeed!'


	2. Chapter 2

**Jaune Arc, Gamer Extraordinaire**

 **Chapter 2: The Start of a Journey**

'What am I even doing here?'

Jaune shuffled his feet nervously, his feet scraping on some fallen leaves.

After accepting the quest, he snuck out of his house into the forest nearby.

Thruthfully, however, he didn't snuck out. He just walked out the front door.

Since it was Sunday morning, his entire family wouldn't get up until 12 to one o'clock, since all the girls that were still living with them were tired from work, his mother was generally not a morning person, and tired, which made for an awful combination, so Sunday she slept in, and his father was tired from whatever mission he last had.

And him being addicted to games and playing all night, made for a very quiet house during the morning.

So after exiting the house, not bothering to change clothes since he didn't put his onesie on in the first place, as he never engaged the idea of sleeping last night, he went out towards the forest.

So now we have one Jaune Arc, that has spent the last hour aimlessly wandering about inside the forest, with his Gamer's Mind being activated at nearly everything that crossed his path, so he wouln't enter panic mode.

Scrambling about in the mud, he slipped multiple times, but continued onwards inside the forest.

He figured he also had time to raise Observe's level, since it was a skill that probably leveled up after a lot of uses.

So he just observed everything around him.

"Tree, tree, rock, grass, moss, tree..."

And to fill the silence of the forest, he also started talking to himself.

"Great..."

Then, his hope rose as another blue screen appeared.

 **Observe has risen to level 2.**

Grinning, he used it again on the last tree to see the difference.

 **Mature Oak**

 **Range of years lived: 100-200**

The difference, while small, was still noticeable, and could help him a lot.

He resumed to walking aimlessly through the forest, while keeping notice of the direction in which his home was, so he wouldn't get lost.

Marching forward, Jaune continued his observation of everything in sight, this time getting more information on everything.

Suddenly, at the left of the road, he found something interesting.

 **Blueberries**

 **Edible item**

 **(Quest Item)**

Grinning, he turned to face the large bush completely, and then proceeded to "dig in" and eat the fruits.

They were pretty good.

Somehow, however, even after eating the food that he normally ate twice in a meal, he still wasn't full.

Only after eating a lot more than usual, did the blue screen respond.

 **Congratulations!**

 **You have completed the main objective of the quest.**

 **Return home to finish the quest, or stay for more possible objectives.**

Jaune himself wasn't really feeling lucky. He completed the main objective, and for the moment he didn't want to risk himself. It was good enough, so he turned around and started walking back home.

It was at that point that Jaune Arc started to find out, that to him...

There never was a bonus objective to begin with, just more main ones.

Back into the forest, the moment Jaune turned around to walk back home, a deer burst out of the tree line and onto the path. It stood still while looking at him for a mere second, and then ran back into the trees at top speed.

 **Bonus Objective Found:**

 **By accepting this bonus objective, you will be tasked to hunt down, cook, and eat the deer.**

 **Rewards: Hunter's bow, title [Hunter], skilk Survivalist evolves into Expert Survivalist, 1000 Exp.**

 **[Yes]/[No]**

Jaune blinked at the new possibility that presented itself.

Killing a deer for 1000 exp certainly seemed nice. It was pretty big however, so he would probably need to suprise attack it.

But at the same time, cooking was also a problem. He had no idea how to even begin...

Since when did he treat killing something, no matter if it was an animal, so something trivial.

The thought scared him.

It seemed like there was more to Gamer's mind than what it sold itself as.

He tapped the yes button, accepting the quest.

The blue screen flashed away, and left him thinking about how he should find the deer in the first place. He walked next to the place the deer had been, and crouched down.

His eyes exploring left and right, he found the tracks of the deer.

And the Game seemed to answer this find.

 **A new skill has been created.**

 **Skill: Tracking level 1**

 **You are able to see the track of any animal or human, for as long as it's fresh (10-20 minutes away) For a longer time level up the skill more.**

Looking forward, he saw a yellow track through the forest, the result of his new skill.

Smiling nervously again, a quirk he seemed to be doing quite often nowadays, he stepped forward, and started a timid march through the woods.

He saw the tracks gradually get brighter in colour, so he crouched down to attempt to sneak.

 **A new skill has been created**

 **Skill: Sneaking level 1**

 **You are able to walk stealthly, reducing the ability of others to perceive you.**

'Well this is bound to be useful.'

He continued, slightly more confident than before, keeping track of the brightness of the yellow trail, while using observe again continously.

Each time he stepped, he grew more and more nervous, until the track's brightness stopped growing and remained unchanged for the next five meters he could see, he figured that the deer was close.

And if that thought didn't stop him, the 2 blue screens that appeared surely did.

 **Observe has risen to level 3**

 **Sneak has risen to level 2**

Taking a deep breath, he moved forward, and turning around the tree he saw the deer a mere 6 meters away.

He didn't get a good look at it the first time, but now he did.

It was quite large, definetily a male buck, and quite old by the sheer size of the antlers on top of his head.

His confidence was slightly taken away, before he used observe on it.

 **Buck**

 **HP: 600/600**

 **SP: 80/80**

 **Stats: ?**

 **Perks: ?**

So it was better than him in HP but he had more SP.

Taking another deep breath, he looked around for anything he could use as a weapon.

Looking around him, he observed everything that was around him.

 **Branch, 3 Damage if used as weapon**

 **Small rock, 4 Damage if used as weapon**

 **Large rock, 10 Damage if used as weapon**

 **Axe handle, 10 Damage if used as weapon**

No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't find anything decent around. Looking everywhere, the closest thing to a weapon was the axe handle that he found on the ground, and even then it was a bat at best.

Perhaps if he could find the axe head for the thing. maybe then.

Looking around for it, hoping for a stroke of luck, he spotted it.

 **Axe Head, 50 damage if used as weapon.**

But however, the problem was it's location.

Right below the feet of the deer.

Taking his final deep breath, he tensed his leg muscles, gripped the axe handle in his hands, and leapt at the deer.

He swung,without being seen until it was too late, strongly, and hit the buck right between it's antlers.

It had been a solid attack, that sent it to the ground, stunning it for a few seconds, incredibly precious time.

In that short pause, he picked up the axe head, and placed it solidly onto the handle, making himself a complete axe.

The buck had already raised itself to it's feet, and charged at him with full speed, a testament to it's strenght.

Jaune raised his axe high, and swung strongly, cutting all the antlers on the left side of it's head, while the stag crashed into him at full speed, knocking him backwards with incredible force.

 **You have suffered 75 damage**

The buck raised itself on the back legs, as Jaune desperately rolled away to avoid it's furios stamps.

Fumbling with the axe in it's hands, he whipped the axe back at the stag, and hit it perfectly into the right front leg.

It was cut off instantly.

Blood sprayed from the wound on Jaune, as the buck fell onto it's side, lacking a leg.

Jaune rose back to full height, and then mercilessly started hitting the downed buck with his axe.

Again and again, blood sprayed with each hit, as his clothes got dirtier and dirtier.

Finally, he delievered his last hit, as the buck ran out of HP, and died.

Panting hard, his stamina fully depleted, his feet shook like leaves in the wind.

 **Congratulations!**

 **You have slayed a fully grown buck**

 **You have gained 500 Exp.**

His feet finally gave under him, as the axe fell from his limp hands.

 **Sneak has risen to level 3**

 **A new skill has been created**

 **Sneak attack: level 1**

 **Attack a target while sneaked, to provide double damage, and cause an effect that depends on the weapon used. (Blunt weapon - stun...)**

 **A new skill has been created**

 **Axe Mastery: level 1**

 **Axe mastery implies better use of axe based weapons, along with more damage and faster strikes.**

He fell on his rear, breathing heavily.

Shaking his head, he looked at his bloodied hands, and felt...

Nothing.

He didn't feel sorry for the deer, he didn't feel anything for the deer.

He was the stronger one, and that's why he survived.

And that's all he felt.

Getting up on steadier legs, he went to the buck and started cutting it apart.

'It didn't say how much to eat, so just a bite of cooked meat should be enough, right?'

Even with his barely passable knowledge of filleting, he still managed to cut some muscles from the deer, shakily, but still passable.

Taking them, he opened his inventory, and put them in it.

It was satisfying to watch the meat just, dissapear into thin air.

Afterwards, he started gathering leaves, branches, small pebbles to form a circle, and prepared to start a fire.

He sighed, pulled the batteries out of his scroll, and tossed them on the ground, after which he raised his axe high and swung downwards.

The leaves lighted up like a christmas tree as the battery exploded into flames. the red dust inside them burning from the hit.

After tending to the fire, he placed the meat on top of it, with a protective set of wood first. After that, he made sure that the meat wouldn't get too burnt.

Checking back on the quest, he verified the time he had left, while placing the axe in his inventory.

 **An Uncommon Morning to an Uncommon Day**

 **You have finished the main objective, and as such can return to your home to finish the quest.**

 **Time remaining: 3:24:47**

Three hours and a half was plenty of time for him to finish cooking the meat.

He spent the rest of the time it needed cooking using observe on every single thing he saw near him.

Looking down at the meat, he realised that almost half an hour had passed and the meat was finished cooking, quite rare.

It didn't really matter, so after putting out the fire, he started eating the meat.

 **Bonus objective has been fullfilled.**

 **Finish the quest in time, and take the bonus rewards.**

'Life is good and Life is fine!'

A bonus objective done, and plenty of time to take the scenic route, he felt just fine.

Or at least he felt just fine, until he felt a foul breath wash on his back.

Casting a fearfull look over his shoulder, his eyes widened.

A huge wolf, with a white mask and glowing red eyes.

A beowulf.

He scrambled out of the way as the grimm barreled forward, intent on killing him.

Hitting the ground running, he pushed himself forward as fast as he could as the beowulf came back around and threw itself after him again and again.

The beowulf was fast enough to catch up to him repeteadly, but however, no attack could hit Jaune, because he was just fast and dexterous enough to dodge them by proffiting of the beowulf's pause of attack and put some distance between them.

With a grimm nipping at his heels, Jaune could say that he had never ran as fast as he was now. After every dodge he could see his stamina dropping again and again, and he realised he would quickly be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

It was at that moment that he saw a small opening inside a bump of earth, and without a second thought or a moment of hesitation, he threw himself inside as fast as he could.

The grimm managed a glancing blow on Jaune, ripping his hoodie on the back, but dealing no damage, as Jaune slipt into the hole, tumbling inside.

The grimm roared and pounced on the earth, clawing at it, but to no avail.

It stopped, and climbed off the earth, slinking around the hole before leaving.

Jaune was sure it would still be around.

 **Bonus objective found:**

 **Escape the Grimm: A beowulf has found you, and you need to escape it.**

 **Rewards: Runner perk**

Another two seconds passed

 **You have escaped the beowulf...for now.**

 **Cornered, with the beowulf on the prowl, your only way out is to fight.**

 **Bonus rewards will be given after finishing the quest.**

 **Bonus Objective found:**

 **Kill the beowulf.**

 **Rewards: Title [Grimm Hunter], Sword and shield, Aura becomes unlocked.**

"This is bullshit."

Fighting a grimm to death, without having a choice certainly wasn't in his top priorities.

Sighing, he pulled the axe out of his inventory and checked the grimm's status, on which he used observe, to find out it's stats.

 **Beowulf**

 **Level 7**

 **HP: 550**

 **SP: 50**

 **Stats:**

 **Might: ?**

 **Vitality: 5**

 **Endurance: 6**

 **Dexterity: 6**

 **Speed: ?**

 **No other stats persent. To get rid of question marks, level up observe more.**

It was stronger than him, definetily stronger. Kind of a glass cannon however, with probably double digits in Might and Speed, and no other stats that higher.

He figured if he got a good axe hit in, he could end it pretty fast.

But first, before heading out, time to check the waters.

Discarding his ripped hoodie, he placed in on top of the axe, and moved it outside the hole.

A claw came down instantly towards it, as Jaune pulled back the axe, and lost his hoodie.

Sighing, he pulled back the remaining meat from his inventory, and threw it as far as he could towards the outside.

It splattered 20 meters away on the ground.

'And now I wait.'

Minutes passed, as the monster finally climbed down, and went to check the thrown object out of curiosity.

Jaune knew that this was his chance, as he readied his axe, and sneaked out of the hole, and climbed over the opening, sliding behind it.

He readied his axe, and prepared to attack, as the sneak attack was his most trusted friend at the moment, next to his axe.

Reading himself, as he heard the creature come closer to the opening.

Then, after a second of waiting, he leaped from behind the dirt, and hit the grimm right between his eyes, cracking it's face mask heavily.

 **Beowulf level 7**

 **HP: 417/550**

 **SP: 50/50**

 **Debuff: Bleeding ( -5HP per second)**

A critical strike to a non-armored place and with sneak attack, he barely dealt 133 damage.

And this beowulf was supposed to be a glass cannon, but he was shaping up to be a bronze one!

The grimm whirled around, managing to throw Jaune of of it's back.

It attacked the blonde relentlessly, who used his smaller size compared to the enemy and higher dexterity to dodge the attacks.

The high amount of Might that the creature had would really hurt if an attack connected fully.

And the beowulf was too low on endurance. It's stamina emptied out twice as fast as him, which left him with plenty of time to attack and recover compared to him.

So after every powerfull swing, he would attack as many times as he could while the grimm struggled to defend, emptying out even more of his SP.

In these circumstances, victory seemed assured.

Until the grimm, sitting on 70 hp managed to land a strike that Jaune couldn't dodge.

He raised his axe high, and gritted his teeth, as the axe handle broke, and the claw slashed him.

 **You have suffered 235 points of damage.**

Seeing that the opponent lost his weapon, the grimm surged forward, desperate to end the fight and continue his existance.

But Jaune thought much further ahead than just that.

After every swing he delivered, he noticed, that his SP was still going to run out sooner or later, and so, prepared for the worst.

So when the grimm broke his weapon, Jaune already knew how to finish it.

He saved a small amount of SP, a tiny bit, but it had been enough.

The moment the grimm surged forward at top speed, Jaune threw himself to his right, and left the grimm to crash into the cave he had been earlier in.

The force of the crash made the small hill topple over the grimm, burying it and restricting it's movement.

Jaune picked up a boulder, and made his way to the grimm.

Reaching the grimm, he raised the stone high, and brought it down with full force on it, multiple times.

Again and again, the grimm ichor flew out with each hit, as Jaune finally killed the beowulf.

Panting heavily, he could only think back to the fight.

How fluid his movements were, how he knew how to hit and dogde... was it because of the Axe Mastery thing?

His power was seriously stupidly broken.

 **Axe Mastery has risen to level 2**

 **Axe Mastery has risen to level 3**

 **Sneak has risen to level 4**

 **Sneak attack has risen to level 2**

 **Sneak attack has risen to level 2**

 **Congratulations, You have completed all of the bonus objectives.**

 **Finish the quest to claim your rewards.**

 **You have slain a level 7 Beowulf.**

 **You have received 2000 exp.**

 **You have leveled up.**

He grinned, lifting himself up to his feet, and started to try to find his way home.

Checking the timer, he still had 2 hours left, just enough time to wash his shirt too.

Looking down at the wound on his chest, he gripped the edge of the shirt, to be more exact what was left of it, and discarded it.

He'd just tell his mother that he lost it and his hoodie.

He'd get cleaned up, maybe even prepare breakfeast, which by the looks of things will end up as the usual Sunday lunch.

Sighing, he left walking towards the place that reminded him of the path he came from.


	3. Chapter 3

**Jaune Arc, Gamer Extraordinaire**

 **Chapter 3: Rewards, Plans, and Finally some Answers**

Stumbling through the woods, Jaune's regeneration helped tremendously, with 1.25 HP regeneration per second, after 1 hour of trying to find the path back home, his HP had filled to the limit.

He barely managed to finally find the way back home, after tracing his steps from the Buck's dead body.

He was nearing his home at quite a fast speed, a brisk jog even, intent on arriving as fast as he could so he had more time to arrange, and clean himself up so he wouldn't raise suspicions from his family.

It didn't take long to finally see his house and reach it. Taking the backdoor, he crouched down and through sneaking, made his way back into his room.

Inside his room, he threw his shirt in the garbage bin and headed straight to the bathroom to clean.

Or at least he would have, were it not for the blue screens that seemed to make it a habit to intrerupt him.

 **Congratulations!**

 **You have completed the quest: An Uncommon Morning to an Uncommon Day**

 **Main goal: Finished [Rewards: 10000 Exp, skill Survivalist]**

 **Bonus goal 1: Finished [Rewards: Hunter's bow, Title [Hunter], Expert Survivalist, 1000 Exp]**

 **Bonus goal 2: Finished [Rewards: Runner perk]**

 **Bonus goal 3: Finished [Rewards: Title [Grimm Hunter], Sword and Shield, Aura is unlocked]**

He smiled as the rewards finally flew in.

 **You have gained 2 Titles.**

 **You have gained a Perk.**

 **You have gained a skill.**

 **Your skill has evolved.**

 **You have gained 2 sets of weapons.**

 **Your aura has been unlocked.**

 **You have leveled up.**

 **You have leveled up.**

Breathing fast in excitement, he rushed to the bathroom, as rushed as he could while having sneak active, threw himself in the shower after disrobing, and finally started cleaning.

It was so nice that he woke up earlier, since he didn't have to wait for 8 other women for his turn in the shower.

'Now, it's time!... To see the spoils.' His manic thoughts of loot weren't left unanswered, as he instantly called out for his status window, and then his inventory.

 **Jaune Arc**

 **Title: The Gamer**

 **Level: 6**

 **Exp: 1050**

 **HP: 425**

 **AP: 1175**

 **SP: 160**

 **Stats:**

 **Might: 5**

 **Vitality: 5**

 **Endurance: 5**

 **Dexterity: 7**

 **Speed: 5**

 **Intelligence: 3**

 **Wisdom: 5**

 **Charisma: 7**

 **Luck: 20**

 **You have 30 points to allocate**

 **Perks:**

 **Arc Bloodline (+100AP per level)**

 **Runner (While running away from an enemy, your speed doubles and stamina consumption halves)**

 **Skills:**

 **Observe: level 3**

 **Axe Mastery: level 3**

 **Sneak: level 4**

 **Sneak Attack: level 3**

 **Tracking: level 1**

 **Expert Survivalist**

'10 points per level!? I guess that since there are 9 stats, that's actually quite low isn't it? Oh well, free power, so I still can't complain. And now I have aura too! I can't wait to dive into that.'

He looked closely at his stats, and figured he would make the investments in the stats, after checking the items he received.

 **Inventory:**

 **Hunter's Bow: Does 50 points of damage with basic arrows.**

 **Do you wish to see the lore?**

 **Sword and Shield: Does 75 points of damage and can block attacks based on endurance, stamina, and might.**

 **Do you wish to see the lore?**

"Lore?"

Jaune's confused question echoed quietly inside the shower.

He shrugged, and answered the game.

"Yes."

Another screen appeared, but however, this time instead of being blue, was a dark grey, with artistic drawings of flowers on the edges.

 **The Hunter's Bow**

 **From the tribes in the outskirts, all the way to the royal palaces in Atlas, there were always signs of weapons from the most ancient of times.**

 **The Grimm were a threat that the humans always recognized.**

 **And so, they forged weapons to fight them.**

 **Swords, Axes, Hammers, Spears, and many others.**

 **But even more ancient than these were the remains of another type of weapon.**

 **One that had always seemed to be out of place.**

 **The Bow.**

 **Why would humans forge bows?**

 **They could never fight the tough armor of the grimm with arrows.**

 **So why make them?**

 **The Bow belongs to the oldest of times, times in which there was no history to be recorded.**

 **When man was nothing but a mere dweller of the caves and forests of the world.**

 **Long before technology appeared.**

 **Long before the first weapons were forged.**

 **Long before the first grimm appeared**

 **Long before the first huntsman appeared.**

 **Long before the moon shattered.**

 **Long before the word 'Remnant' ever appeared.**

 **A time in which man hunted the animals of the world.**

 **A time in which the bow was the most needed and trusted friend.**

 **The bow is the remnant of those times, forgotten by the world.**

 **And it will stay that way, for as long as the world exists.**

Jaune's eyes were wide, as he finished reading the lore of the Hunter's Bow.

'This is some heavy stuff.'

And then the Sword and Shield lore appeared, it's screen the same as the earlier one.

 **The Sword and Shield**

 **The Sword and Shield were forged to fight and to protect.**

 **The Sword to kill the threat.**

 **The Shield to defend the ones in need.**

 **The Sword and Shield are perhaps, the oldest of weapons.**

 **No tricks to them.**

 **No range attacks.**

 **It was humanities only way to fight.**

 **A mindless struggle that perfected itself over time.**

 **And became the symbol of humanities oldest and greatest huntsman.**

 **But The Sword and Shield didn't fight just grimm.**

 **When the greed of humans went too far, they would become valiant defenders.**

 **Not of humanity.**

 **But of innocents.**

 **Whether to slay grimm and protect humanity.**

 **Or to slay humans and protect innocents.**

 **It would be the wielder's choice.**

 **For their goal, in the end.**

 **Will always be to kill and defend.**

 **Regardless of the type of threat.**

Jaune was shocked of the deep lore of the two items, and impressed at the same time.

But a small part of him wondered of the bow.

A time in which there were no grimm, and no huntsman...

'How would a time like that be?...'

Shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts, he pulled the Sword and Shield, along with the bow, and set them down on the cold floor.

And then he used his observe on them.

 **Sword and Shield**

 **Quality: Uncommon**

 **Compared to Common: +15 damage, -10 SP needed normally for a block.**

 **Qualities may range from:**

 **Broken: (Lowest) - 70 damage**

 **Well Used: - 40 damage**

 **Rusted: - 10 damage**

 **Common: Standard damage = 60**

 **Uncommon: + 15 damage**

 **Rare: + 30 damage**

 **Epic: + 75 damage**

 **Legendary: + 100 damage**

 **Ancient: + 150 damage**

 **Hunter's Bow**

 **Quality: Uncommon**

 **Compared to common: +10 damage**

Nodding his head, as if expecting these results, he figured he wouldn't be using the Hunter's Bow too often, but still using it.

The Sword and Shield however, these would probably be his standard.

So his investment rate would probably be lots of endurance, vitality, might, and dexterity.

He figured that since he had two weapons that needed dexterity, one that needed might, endurance, and vitality, he should focus first on dexterity, and then on the rest of stats, with any bonus ones going into either luck, charisma, or wisdom.

Since his reserves were so large, he wouldn't need any more points in intelligence, since he had that badass perk, and same with wisdom.

But having incredibly large reserves, along with stupid regeneration, would certainly be bullshit on a whole other scale.

But first, he'd need body stats, then aura ones.

He also figured that since he was a game character in real life, he could also train those stats.

'I should be able to run to increase my endurance, and from there, it's basically a quest to find out how to increase each stat. Might and vitality are simple enough. Do lots of push-ups and take some hits, and it should go up. But the rest, are all sorts of question marks. Dexterity, maybe by training? Intelligence and Wisdom, maybe my practicing aura?'

He wasn't entirely sure what aura was.

You see, he tried signal and learned of everything he could that he needed. He did lack everything in body, but got a 98 on theory.

But with no combat training, he still wasn't able to get in, despite being an Arc.

So by now, he had forgotten mostly everything he learned.

He still remembered aura as being, something like a force-field thing that protects and regenerates you. He also remembered that he could use it for other things, but no longer knew what these things were.

Sighing, he figured he'd learn how each stat increases, and until then, keep his points in the bank.

Finishing his bath, he stuck the weapon back inside the inventory, and then called out for another screen.

 **Titles:**

 **More than one title may be equipped at a time.**

 **-Grimm Hunter (For slaying a Grimm without aura, you have received this title. It gives 10% bonus damage against grimm of all kinds, and also the mask of the grimm you defeated.)**

 **-Hunter (Increases damage dealt with a bow by 20%, levels up tracking and observe just for being equipped once. While equipped, these two skills level up twice as fast.)**

 **Only one title of the Hunter variant may be equipped.**

Nodding his head at the two titles, he started thinking of the benefits of both.

'So It's basically better if i equip Hunter during my day-to-day life, so observe levels up faster, but before going in combat i use Grimm Hunter. The things that the two give me are also nice, so let's try them.'

"Equip title Hunter."

 **Title [Hunter] has been equipped.**

 **Observe has risen to level 4**

 **Tracking has risen to level 2**

'Good, and now the other one.'

 **Title [Grimm Hunter] has been equipped.**

 **You have received: Beowulf mask**

 **Do you wish to see the lore for this item?**

Jaune looked at the suggestion, and agreed.

 **The Beowulf mask**

 **The mask of a grimm can only be achieved by slaying one without aura.**

 **It is a manifestation of the Grimm's will to destroy and maim, that was left behind.**

 **Because aura cleanses grimm.**

 **Huntsman that kill grimm, through their aura, put them to rest.**

 **But by killing one without an aura, their wills are left behind.**

 **Their body fades to the light, while their mind remains bound to their mask.**

 **Equipping such a mask will drive the wearer insane, as the mask's will will try to take over the wearer's mind, and by doing so, become a grimm in human form.**

 **Those that survive gain strenght through this.**

Jaune was shocked.

'The Grimm's will is... inside this? It's still alive?'

This was shocking to Jaune, as he now held in his hands a grimm that was trapped inside it's own mask.

It was probably unheard of, and Jaune begged to agree.

 **A Beowulf mask**

 **By equipping this mask, you will receive 15 Might and 15 Speed, and buff: Beowulf sight**

'Wait a second... Why didn't it mention the whole 'going insane' thing?'

Then, he remembered a very important piece of information.

"Gamer's Mind! I'm immune to mind-attacks!" He half-whispered, half-shouted.

Then, without a second of hesitation equipped it.

It was like seeing a whole new world.

Everything way different.

As Jaune looked around. everything was darker and redder at the same time, he could see further, he could see all the way to miss Jane's apartment, who was right now sitting in front of the window... tople-

Jaune adverted his sight instantly, redder than a tomato, his teenage hormones going crazy as he face-palmed repeatedly to get the image out.

Sighing, still red, he suddenly froze as he felt it.

It was barely noticeable, but he could feel it, a probing sensation to the back of his skull.

It was like something was trying to get in, but was stopped by a wall.

He shook his head, as he finally took of the mask.

Suddenly, it felt horrible.

His eyes burned as they re-adjusted to normal sight, and he felt powerless compared to before.

Losing 15 might and speed when you had 5 certainly felt that way.

Having 20 might and speed felt like a high now that he thought about it, but he didn't notice because of the new vision.

'Well, i certainly feel it now, ah!'

The annoying sensation aside, he left his shower, after wrapping a towel around his modesty of course, and headed towards his room.

Walking slowly across the hall way, he reached his room, and stopped to look around.

With all the gaming he had done recently, he had almost forgot how his house looked like.

His room was on the second floor, right in front of the stairs. On the right of his room was, at the end of the hallway, a bathroom to use. On the left side were 2 more bedrooms, more exactly Sapphire's and Hazel's rooms. Downstairs there was firstly, right after going down the stairs, the living room. A door to the left lead to the kitchen, and through the living room, were 4 more rooms. There resided Jade, Coral, Topaz, and Opal. There was also a guest room, a basement, a garage, a dinner, and another bathroom. Upstairs, right after coming up the stairs next to the bathroom was their parents bedroom, and next to them, Rogue's room. The floor had another bathroom on it.

You can't live in a house with 8 women, and NOT have at least 3 bathrooms.

Sighing at that dilemma, he entered his room.

It was the typical shut-in type of room. A window eternally veiled, a desk with a computer on it, a comfortable chair, a simple bed, a closet filled with clothes, a nightstand, and a bin.

Nothing special here.

Dropping the towel, he quickly got changed into some more, sporty clothes, wanting to test the theory of increasing stats by training, and figured going for a jog was good enough.

Going back to the bathroom, he left the tower there, and headed outside, this time through the front door.

He got his good shoes on, and figured he could use an observe on his clothes.

 **Simple black Shirt: no bonuses. (Common)**

 **Simple black running pants: no bonuses. (Common)**

 **Running shoes: no bonuses. (Common)**

So basically nothing worth-while.

He sighed, shaking his head, already understanding that much.

Opening the door, he headed out, knowing that he had about another hour and a bit before his family was finally up.

He'd take a jog, try to understand how stats are raised, and maybe, play with that aura of his for a bit, see what it can no and what not.

Entering the street, he looked around to find the village streets barren of people.

It was surprising too see the usual busy village seem so... lifeless.

He lived in a small town in the kingdom of Vale, south of Vale City by quite a bit. The town itself didn't have very many people living in it, barely reaching 3000 people, but the streets very, almost always during work days filled with people.

Saturday morning seemed like an exception, as Jaune questioned himself.

'Is saturday morning always like this everywhere?'

Shrugging, he figured that he could jog all the way to the forest, and test his aura there.

Slowly, he started to run.

And it was that day that Jaune understood how hard running is.

In the middle of July, the weather was simply put a constant heat-wave. Add in the fact that he rarely exercises, and you have an impossible task ahead of you.

Jog for 3 kilometers, until reaching the gate, and then another 1, just to be sure.

'I'm...going...to...DIE!' His mind screamed as he heaved, stamina constantly at zero.

Muscles burned, as his body started feeling the exercise.

 **Due to your continuous struggle you gain 1 point of endurance.**

 **SP increased to 190 (*I made a mistake with the stamina counter on the first chapter, he actually had 175*)**

'THIS BARELY HELPS!..."

He couldn't even run anymore, he was one step away from dropping in exhaustion.

Halting the jog, he stopped, and started recovering.

With 6 endurance, he had 3 SP regen per second, which was basically 180 SP in a minute.

That was actually quite good.

Looking in front, he realized that he actually jogged all the way to the gate.

3 kilometers.

He nearly jumped in excitement, were it not for his pained muscle, he probably would have.

 **You have gained a new skill:**

 **Physical Conditioning: level 1**

 **Further body stat increases through training are easier to gain.**

The screen didn't scare the living daylights out of him, at least for once.

Quickly, he entered a back alley, and then used sneak and started walking towards the wall of the gate, hidden by the shadows.

The guards wouldn't let him exit the town, without a viable reason or his dad, so he figured he would have to sneak out.

He couldn't do it like he did it earlier, just get out of his house, and go through the village 'backdoor'.

Basically, the village had a backdoor to their wall, which was put right next to their house because of his father. All he had to do to go out that way, was to simply take the key from it's chain, open the door, close it, lock it, leave, come back, open the door, lock it again, and then get back in his house.

But however, the first thing Nicholas Arc did when he woke up was to check the door, and then go back inside the house, and wait for his wife and children to wake up and make breakfast/lunch.

So while it worked earlier, it wouldn't work now, since his father would check the door right about now, and then go back to sleep.

Back to Jaune, walking slowly, step by step, he only had one way out, and that was to climb over the wall.

To reach the wall, he'd first have to reach it, by taking the back alley. But with so many houses around it, he had a better idea.

Reaching the inn of their town, which was placed right next to the inner gate, he climbed it from the left wall, avoiding the windows.

 **Sneak has risen to level 5**

The screen nearly made him fall off, but he held tightly to the brick wall

Reaching about half way, his muscles burned too much, and he had to climb back down.

Shaking his head, he looked back at the building.

There was noting to hang on except the window ledges, and the brick wall, and he didn't have enough might to manage that.

Sighing, he figured that since he wasn't going to be seen, he could use it.

Opening his inventory, he pulled out the grimm mask, and slid it on.

The high was felt all too completely this time, his might and speed four times as large as it used to be.

Along with his new vision, he could already make a plan to climb the wall.

Gripping again at the bricks, he started climbing as fast as he could, and reached the second floor's balcony in mere seconds.

Crouching down, and looking through the balcony inside the inn, he saw nobody on the second floor.

Letting out a deep breath he didn't know he was holding, he looked right from the entrance, more exactly towards the town wall. It was 5 meters away, and nearly at the same level, and with his current speed, he didn't know if he could make it.

Just by making a calculation of his stats, Jaune could jump like this, without the mask, about 1 meter from the ledge. With the stat increase being 4 times larger than before, he figured he could jump about 4 meters now. But if stat increase didn't work like that, well...

Jaune wasn't planning to risk it. So he opened his status screen, and decided to, regretfully, place 10 points into his speed.

With a total of 30 speed, Jaune prepared to launch himself over the ledge. Tensing his legs and chest, his arms and the rest of his body following, he ran silently from the balcony to gain the most amount of momentum possible, he lightly jumped on the ledge, and then launched himself forward.

He went flying past the wall, and continued at a level above it for another 3 meters, before finally starting to fall.

Hitting the ground in a tumble, he rolled forward, got to his feet in a fluid motion and started another jog forward.

Grinning at the stunt he just pulled, he suddenly thought about how he was going to come back, and his grin was reduced to a light smile.

 **Due to you successfully leaving the village without being seen, sneak has risen to level 8**

It was then that the jog's effect suddenly came through, as the burn started again, and Jaune knew in what his next points and days of training were going into, and that was endurance.

Reaching a fairly large distance, already inside the forest surrounding the town, he sat down on the ground, unseen and unheard of by anything human.

Nodding, he started thinking.

'Okay, so aura is supposed to be some sort of force field thing that protects and heals you. But it can also do other things. For now however, let's just test what we have.'

Reaching down for a branch, he left his other hand extended outwards, and then using the branch, smacked himself on his other arm.

He didn't feel anything, but apparently his body did.

 **You have suffered 15 damage to AP**

"Okay, so the force field thingy works, but i'd need to get hurt pretty badly for the regeneration thing to pop in, so that's gonna have to wait. Now, from what I remember, I can also use it to reinforce myself. So for now, let's try to get a feel of it." Not even realizing, or caring that he was speaking out loud, he started to do exactly what he spoke of.

Sitting on the ground, eyes closed, he started to try to get a feel of the new energy within him.

It was then that he felt it, inside his body.

A shining light, that threatened to blind him.

He reached out for it without thinking, and he now felt it move.

It was a wonderful and weird feeling.

It was like having another circulatory system. It flowed through your body, like blood through your veins, and enveloped you with a warm sensation.

Smiling, he focused it on his left arm, and slowly got up, as if afraid of disturbing the tranquility inside his body. He neared a tree, pulled his hand back into a fist, and hammered it into the tree.

The tree trunk cracked and caved in.

Jaune was shocked.

 **You have suffered -20 damage to AP**

 **You have lost 30 points of AP for using an AP technique.**

 **You have gained a new skill.**

 **Aura Manipulation: level 1**

 **You can now manipulate your aura inside your body for various needs.**

 **Aura Reinforcement: level 1**

 **You can now manipulate your aura inside your body to reinforce it. Gains depend on intelligence level and skill level.**

Looking back at his fist, he grinned at how much his power was helping him.

Stretching, he figured he should be going home right about now.

Shaking his head slightly, he thought now about what to increase.

Might, endurance, and speed, were all covered by Aura Reinforcement now, and he said that confidently because of the sheer amount of AP he had. Wisdom was, for now, also dealt with, because of his amulet. Intelligence wasn't really needed at the moment either, so that left him with charisma, luck, vitality, and dexterity.

And that was an easy enough choice. He placed 13 points into dexterity, to get a solid 20, and placed the remaining points into vitality.

His stats now read:

 **Jaune Arc**

 **Titles: [The Gamer], [The Grimm Hunter]**

 **Level: 6**

 **Exp: 1050**

 **HP: 600**

 **AP: 1175**

 **SP: 160**

 **Stats:**

 **Might: 5 [20]**

 **Vitality: 12**

 **Endurance: 6**

 **Dexterity: 20**

 **Speed: 15 [30]**

 **Intelligence: 3**

 **Wisdom: 5**

 **Charisma: 7**

 **Luck: 20**

Smiling at how much he improved in a single day, he started the trek home, ready to finally have dinner with his family.


	4. Chapter 4

**Jaune Arc, Gamer Extraordinaire**

 **Chapter 4: The Breakfast/Lunch, and more Aura Manipulation**

* * *

 **Jaune Arc**

 **Titles: [The Gamer], [The Grimm Hunter]**

 **Level: 6**

 **Exp: 1050**

 **HP: 600**

 **AP: 1175**

 **SP: 190**

 **Stats:**

 **Might: 5 [20]**

 **Vitality: 12**

 **Endurance: 6**

 **Dexterity: 20**

 **Speed: 15 [30]**

 **Intelligence: 3**

 **Wisdom: 5**

 **Charisma: 7**

 **Luck: 20**

 **Inventory:**

 **Sword and Shield**

 **Hunter's Bow**

 **Perks:**

 **Arc Bloodline**

 **Runner**

 **Skills:**

 **Gamer's Mind**

 **Gamer's Body**

 **Observe: Level 3**

 **Tracking: Level 2**

 **Sneak: Level 8**

 **Sneak Attack: Level 3**

 **Axe Mastery: Level 3**

 **Expert Survivalist**

 **Physical Conditioning: level 1**

 **Aura Manipulation: level 1**

 **Aura Reinforcement: level 1**

 **Equipment:**

 **Grimm Mask (Beowulf)**

 **Locket of Mana Regeneration**

All in all, his stats increase and items gained in one day were fairly splendid.

Points gained, pools increased, items gained, and a bunch of skills.

Grinning, he headed back towards the town, finally ready for the lunch with his family.

He figured that he could use Aura Reinforcement to level it up on the way. He started slowly by getting a feel for his aura, while walking. And then, he started letting it flow inside his body, gently at first, and later on pulling hard at it, sending it at his muscles and bones out of instinct as the skill worked itself naturally.

He felt like he could run faster, and longer, as his aura dropped gradually, low amounts in general. He covered the distance that would have normally taken him much longer to run, in barely two minutes.

 **Aura Reinforcement has risen to level 2**

Reaching close to the village gate, he stuck to the shadows of the nearby trees, and reached the wall.

'The question always was how to get back here. I can't jump from the tree, since it's much lower in height and further away. I guess I can only climb over.'

The wall was made all out of wood and stone, so it was fairly sturdy. But time took it's toll on everything, and so, wood would crack and stick out in certain places, the same going on with bricks, which crack and burst outside. That left Jaune with a lot of potential places to climb the wall.

Starting on a low brick, about 60 meters away from the gate, he started a slow climb over the wall. His muscles no longer burned as strongly as before, the extra might giving him a much needed boost. Reaching the top, sneaking since before starting the climb, he leaped over and hit the ground in the same alley that he came from, took his mask off and placed it in the inventory. Stepping into the street, still sneaking, he made his way through the now busy streets, and reached his home.

It was a small manor, 3 floors tall, the standard old attire that a manor had.

Yet again, nothing really special.

Opening the front door, he started sneaking to his room.

He could already feel the smell of his mom's pancakes coming from the kitchen, but it was still quiet, which meant she hadn't called the family down.

Going up the stairs slowly, he reached the top close to not making a sound, and then entered his room.

It was just like he left it.

Dropping onto his bed, he figured he could at least try to figure out how to increase his other stats.

' _Might_ as well try out now...hehe, dad would have laughed at that one.'

Dropping onto the floor, he got into a push-up position, and then started doing just that.

Sweat fell from bis brow, as he got up for another, and also the last, push-up. Somewhere among the lines of 20-30.

Crashing onto his chest, he hit the floor with a thud.

Then, he pushed himself one more time, throwing his legs forward, and sitting on the ground. Then, he got on his back and started doing crunches.

After what seemed like an eternity for him, the blue screen finally appeared as his muscles hurt and cramped.

 **Might has risen by one point**

 **Vitality has risen by one point**

 **Hp has increased by 25 (total: 625)**

Laying back down, he hid the wooden floor with a thud, breathing heavily.

He could barely move.

With a lot of motivation and with shaky legs and trembling arms, he finally got back on his feet, only to crash a few seconds later onto the bed.

'Okay, so body stats theory is confirmed. Now, I have mental stats, and the other two weird ones to learn about. I'll leave those, and try to crack the mental ones first.

Sitting upright onto the bed, he started again, just like in the forest, to grasp at his aura.

Finding it quickly, he started a slow flow for it, all across his body, using reinforcement on his limbs, chest, and other locations at the same time.

It was hard to do at first, since it required him to focus on more than just 2 things at a time, with each taking a great amount of concentration.

But time and practice seemed to pay off.

 **Wisdom has risen by one point**

 **Aura Manipulation has risen to level 2**

'So using, and controlling his aura gave him wisdom, so logically speaking, intelligence should be about raw power, which leaves, if that theory proves out, charisma and luck.'

"~Lunch Time!~"

Out of instinct he barreled out the door, and for once in his life, he reached downstairs faster than Hazel and Sapphire. They looked surprised at this, shocked even. He reached the living room in no-time, took the first plate he saw with food, and dashed on the couch.

Reaching the couch and slumping down on it, he didn't feel the muscle fever settle in, which was nice. Sitting down on the couch, plate and fork in one hand, he looked at the stack of pancakes on his plate, syrup on them.

Grinning, he devoured them in front of his sisters, as they eyed the plate hungrily.

Hazel whined rather loudly, but got her serving a moment later.

Sapphire pouted at the two who were now eating their share, and looked for her own serving, only to see his mother go to the kitchen.

She sat down with a huff, glaring at the two happily munching away.

"This is so not fair! Jaune, why did you cheat?"

Jaune grinned despite himself, and replied.

"I don't know what you are talking about..." He let himself trail on, only to lift the plate backwards when she used her hand to try and steal the plates.

"Pleaseeeee~, You know these are my favorite."

"Sorry, but You're gonna have to wait."

'Apparently, 10 points in speed does make a difference!'

He finished his plate the moment his other 4 sisters popped from the kitchen, all with plates with pancakes in their hands.

Seeing Sapphire staring at them with an open-mind finally made him break into a fit of laughter.

Recovering before his sisters, who happened to have a similar reaction, he took the time to look at each one of them.

Sapphire was tall, and by that he meant it. Sitting at 1.92 meters, she was an imposing figure, almost as tall as their father. But despite that, she was still one of the most childish members of the family. She had soft features, and looked a lot like him, with blond hair and blue eyes. She was 19, the oldest in the family. The body figure was like that of a model, with a balanced body and long legs.

Hazel was the second oldest, followed by him. She had dark blue hair like her mother, and was short, standing at 168 centimeters. Dainty hands and a lithe figure, generall speaking, she was the epitome of elegance. Compared to him and his other older sister, who were both fairly blunt and klutzy, she was always at top condition, looking as flawless as possible and polite. She also had her mothers green eyes. She was 17 years old.

He was sure that all 3 of them took after a respective parent, Sapphire and himself with Nicholas, and Hazel with her mom.

Jade was green haired, 14 years old, with green hair and green eyes, hence the name. Other than the green hair, she looked like a carbon copy of their mother. She stood at 1.65 meters.

Topaz and Opal however, were surely a complete mix of the two. Both of them had light green hair, with a touch of blue around the edges. Mismatched eyes were fairly interesting, since one eye, right and left in case of Topaz and Opal respectively, was blue, while the other one was green. They always stand together, with Topaz on the left side from the viewers perspective, and Opal on the right, and since they always dressed identically, they formed the image of a reflection of each other, like a mirror was separating them.

Due to age, both of them being 13, they were really tiny, standing at 1.48 meters, and so the image formed was quite a creepy one.

Last but not least, were Coral and Rogue.

Coral was green haired, but however at the roots if was more yellow. Barely 12, she had blue eyes and was tiny, barely 1.39 meters. Her features were pretty sharp despite her age, and she could be quite witty if the situation called for it.

Rogue, the youngest of the family. She was 7 years old, and her room was on the same floor with their parents, apparently because she's scared of monsters and won't sleep without her parents nearby. Her hair was probably the weirdest one in the family, being completely yellow at the roots, then going up to a light green, deep green at it's center, then ended into light blue, and dark blue at the tips. Both eyes were green, and she still had the baby fat most children her age had.

Then, his mother entered the room.

Dark blue hair and green eyes, she looked like a woman barely nearing her 30s, but however, she was almost 50 years old. Her features were quite sharp, as a respectable former huntress. She had had a short carrier, barely 7 years, after which she met his father and quit her job. She also had the elegance air that Hazel presented, but with more leeway involved, like Jade. She was pretty tall, standing at 1.82

As for the huntress career, she wasn't anything special, nor was she anything bad. She was an average hunter, nothing else.

Smiling while looking at his family, all of them chatting happily. The twins hugged their mother, and both kissed her on the cheeks, one for each side, thanking her for making their favorites, and whispering something in a suspicious manner.

It was the usual Saturday morning, nothing special for them. But however it had been special to him.

Rising from his chair, he started walking to his mother, intent on doing very much the same.

"Good morning mom."

"Jaune~, What got you here so early. The first plate, how did you manage that?" The teasing tone never left, as Jaune smiled.

"I guess I was just quicker on the uptake this morning."

"I guess you were, you generally are third or more." Juniper smiled lightly.

Kissing his mother on the cheek, he decided to question his father's absence as well.

"Where's dad by the way?"

"Your dad had to leave earlier, he got a mission earlier, something about the myrmecia infestation in the mountain. He'll probably be back in a few days at most."

His dad leaving, was quite a blessing actually. It meant he could stay in the forest for longer than normal, perhaps even the whole night, if he was back by morning.

But the myrmecia infestation in the mountain was both a risk and a possibility.

Myrmecia were basically ant grimm, which were large, six legged, slim, armor covered, large mandibles, and large eyes for better vision in the dark, human killers. The popular names for them were bulldog ants, or more commonly known, jack jumpers.

The things, despite the horrible description, were actually not that dangerous alone. There have been reports of civilians killing one of them without help.

But the problem was that they breed like no tomorrow.

A normally sized hive was a maze of caverns which spread for large amounts of land. In a hive like this, there were close to 50000 of them, which coupled with the fact that they only grow in numbers at a huge rate due to the queen of the hive, by about 100 every day, it was a danger that couldn't be ignored.

And it presented itself pretty desirable.

There was potentially an almost endless pit of EXP, but there was the chance that if he went there now, the other hunters there, including his dad, would find him.

'High risk, higher rewards... What am i waiting for!?'

His eyes sparked, already forming himself another plan.

A plan that the game seemed all too eager to put into practice.

 **Quest received!**

 **The Myrmecia infestation in the mountains has become a danger that can't be ignored.**

 **Eliminate the hive in a maximum of three weeks, without being spotted by the huntsman there.**

 **Fail conditions:**

 **-Myrmecia population reaches 100000 (currently: 56071)**

 **-Three weeks have passed and the colony remains.**

 **-Is seen by another hunter at the location.**

 **Rewards:**

 **60000 Exp**

 **Bonus Rewards:**

 **?**

 **?  
**

 **?**

The quest was rather nice looking, but something made him blink for a few seconds.

'3 weeks? I guess with all the other hunters around, this was more than enough time. Hell, they'd probably finish it in two weeks without me!'

Seeing as he already had finished his plate, he figured he might as well retreat into his room, put on the 'do not disturb' sign, and sneak out.

'Simple enough.'

"Well, I guess i'll be going to my room. Don't overwork yourself with these pancakes, you know how much Sapphire can eat." He purposely said the last part a little bit louder, so Sapphire and the rest could hear. She went slightly red at the jab, as the others laughed lightly.

Retreating fast into his room, and going up the stairs before she could retort, he flicked the sign on his door, and entered.

Heading for the window, he pulled back the curtains, opened it, and instead of carefully planning his descent down the thing, he simply equipped his mask, focused his aura in his legs, and leaped out.

Landing in a low crouch, he instantly got a notification, this time however, at the corner of his vision.

'That's nice, I imagine getting a screen in the middle of your face during a fight couldn't be helpful.'

 **You have lost -25 AP**

To his pool of 1175, with a natural regeneration of 2.5 per second, and an item caused one of 5 per second, made the aura expended already regenerate by the time he hit the ground. It was something amazing really.

With the mask on, he headed towards the wall of the village, which was 20 meters off in his backyard, thankfully the place where his window was oriented.

Last time he had gotten into the forest through the crack of the wall.

You see, there was a small crack in the wall. Not large enough for a grimm, not even for a creep, but a human could sneak through. His dad had already talked to the mayor about fixing the crack, but they hadn't gotten quite to it.

But this time, he wouldn't bother with it.

Taking a running start, he ran full speed ahead, jumped, and latched 1 meter away from the top of the 4 meter-something-wall.

Which was quite impressing, seeing as it was more of a leap instead of a jump.

Gripping the top of the wall easily, he pulled himself up and jumped down.

'Now that I'm here, where do i go now? Let's see, the mountain should be this way.'

Starting from the path that he had earlier walked on, a path made mostly by animals, he strayed slightly to the right of it, and ran at a moderate speed for him.

Which, because of his 30 speed, was considered a brisk run for most people, still slower than a sprint.

Quickly making his way through the foliage, his higher speed compared to his endurance, quickly put a large strain onto his legs. The muscle burned because of speed, as Jaune started to quickly run out of stamina.

Making for a substitution, he started to gather aura into his legs again, like he had done before, and reinforced them quite heavily.

It no longer burned, as suddenly, putting the same effort as before due to the aura, his speed had doubled and stamina consumption halved. It was quite impressing.

Jaune felt fantastic, to run at such speed with no pain attached to it was amazing. Not to mention that he had never ran as fast as this in his whole life, and this wasn't everything he could dish out!

"This is FREAKING AWESOME!" Perhaps shouting into a forest, wasn't the best idea but Jaune enjoyed the thought of such a thoughtless action almost as much as running.

Smiling, his eyes sharpened as he decided to find the limits to this new speed of his.

And then he started running as fast as he could, while still aura reinforcing his legs.

The landscape became a blur.

It was so fast, Jaune felt he had busted the 60 kilometers per aura level.

It was amazing, at least until his body had caught up.

Going at such speeds, while reinforcing his body as much as he did, for several minutes was still the work-out of a century, as he had to stop to a jog, not able to move faster.

 **Aura Reinforcement has risen to level 3**

 **Aura Reinforcement has risen to level 4**

 **Aura Manipulation has risen to level 3**

 **Endurance has increased by 1**

 **Speed has increased by 1**

Panting hard, he looked at the results, happy with him running at top-speed increasing all of these.

It also seemed like it didn't show him that he was losing aura, since he was using a skill that cost aura, and hadn't been hit.

It seemed like the forest was ending however, as the tree-line seemed to stop.

Going past it, he entered the plains.

The village was basically surrounded by forest, then, by plains, with a mountain to the north, and then more forest.

So after finishing the first layer of forest, close to 20 kilometers, it was only normal that he entered the plains, and found himself staring at the mountain in front of him.

He had never been here, due to him never leaving the safety of the village, but boy was it a view worth leaving that.

The mountain wasn't that massive. It was about 1600 meters tall, give or take a few hundred meters. At the very tip it was snowy, and at the ground level and slightly above, it was green, at the middle being the classic brown. But the sun shining above it, made for quite the sight, as the mountain cast a shadow onto the plains.

Cracking his legs, he examined the plains as well, but found nothing around it to his liking. Entering his inventory, he pulled out the bow and the shield, and then remembered, that he had no arrows. Putting the bow back with a sigh, he raised the sword and the shield.

The stance was shoddy at best, but it was a beginning.

Dropping his hands low, he started running again, slightly slower since stamina regeneration was crappy. He barely had 70 stamina out of 215, with the new point.

Huffing slightly at the stamina, he settled that this was the next thing to increase, or find some sort of perk for it.

Looking around, he couldn't see anything interesting around him. No animals on the plains, no grimm to see, nothing really.

That was until his luck stat decided to pull through.

Suddenly, after taking a few more steps ahead, the ground cracked and faltered, and then it collapsed along with Jaune.

It had been at least a 6 meter drop, as Jaune hit the ground with a loud thud, along with a bunch of branches, tree barks, rocks, and other things that had been covered with grass to make for a sealed exit of a escape route for a tunnel.

 **You have entered a dungeon: Myrmecia Hive**

'A dungeon...? This is getting so weird.'

Looking around, it seemed like Jaune had, indeed, found the quickest way to the ant hive.

The cavern in which he dropped was almost surely made by ant grimm.

If the mandible marks in the walls were any sign of that. They also seemed rather fresh.

'So i basically landed into an unfinished tunnel, sealed so nobody would see it, that's freshly done. The ants should be close by.'

Preparing his stance again, he stepped lightly forward. The tunnel had the opening he fell through as nothing other than an escape route, as there were 2 ways to go from there.

Looking to his left, he saw that the mandible marks appeared to be more fresh than to his right.

Figuring that he could probably ambush them, he started walking into the left part of the tunnel, but found his vision decreasing step by step.

It got so bad, that 40 steps away it was complete darkness.

'How do I make light around here? Come on brain, think!'

Then, his eyes lightened up.

He started moving his aura into his right hand, slowly, but in small, concentrated amounts. It took a bit for the desired effect to take place, and it seemed to cost as much aura as he regenerated.

'I got the POWER!'

His hand lit up like a white torch, lighting the path ahead.

Taking far more confident steps, he found himself having his heart beating into his throat, the anticipation killing him.

Until he spotted the first ant, that was.

It was small, shaped just like an ant, about 1 meter in length. It's mandibles were large, about 30 centimeters each. It was covered in armor, grimm bone plaiting, but it seemed much weaker than the one the beowulf had. Finally, it had four large red eyes on it's mask, red streaks all over it.

Casting a quick observe on it, the stats matched the description.

 **Myrmecia**

 **Class: Worker**

 **Level: 5**

 **HP: 200/200**

 **SP: 210/210**

 **Might: 7**

 **Vitality: 4**

 **Endurance: 12**

 **Dexterity: 2**

 **Speed: 7**

 **Luck: 1**

 **No other stats available**

Tightening the grip on his shield and sword, the light from his aura flickered for a moment, before he reeled it back in.

Taking a deep breath, he raised the sword high, and dashed towards it.

The myrmecia was far slower in comparison, and so it barely had the time to raise itself and draw back it's mandibles, before Jaune's sword cut deep into it's head.

The aura boost that his hand received from channeling so much into it was high, as Jaune nearly killed the grimm in one hit, severing one mandible.

The grimm tried to swing his one remaining weapon to attempt an attack, but Jaune was faster.

Raising the shield ever so slightly, he took a defensive posture behind it, and then smashed it into the worker, killing it.

 **You have gained 500 Experience**

 **You have gained 300 lien**

'Money...This is getting weirder and cooler at the same time. As for experience...a fourth of what the beowulf gave me, that seems about right. Now, how much experience do i have again?'

 **EXP: 1550/6000**

That looked swell, he only needed to kill a few more and then he'd level.

Grinning, he saw out of the corner of his eyes, 3 more myrmecia approaching.

They looked the same as the one he saw earlier, so they were probably worker's too, which made for an easy fight despite their number superiority.

Raising his shield high, this time he decided to be the one defending, to try and learn more about the way they fight.

The 3 grimm gnashed their mandibles against one another, and started running towards them.

"Come on, is this the fastest you can go?"

Perhaps to Jaune, they seemed slow, but for a civilian this was nearly a sprint that the ants were making.

The first one seemed to take initiative, as it smashed against his shield, the others circling him.

Figuring out their tactics, he quickly smashed his shield against the first one, and cut it down to finish the job, and then turned towards the second one, and threw his sword at it, as strong as he could with one arm.

It seemed to do the job, as the grimm collapsed into a heap on the ground.

In two seconds, Jaune crossed the distance, pulled the blade out of the corpse, and leaped at the last grimm who was planning to escape now, and alert the hive.

It didn't have the chance.

Jaune landed on it's back, his sword piercing through the plaiting, and into it's head, the added force from the leap proving out to be enough to kill it.

The grimm collapsed on top of it, as Jaune breathed heavily.

It seemed like he really needed to increase endurance, since his other stats were higher, he tired far more easily.

He'd also need to drop the cool action moments, he didn't have the stamina for those either.

'So basically, stand behind the shield and slash at it. If they're too many, reposition, and back to slashing. Sounds good enough.'

Raising to his feet, he finally gave attention to the blue screens that appeared at the corner of his view.

 **You have gained 1500 Experience**

 **You have gained 900 lien**

 **You have gained a new skill:**

 **Swordsmanship: The ability to wield swords effectively, and use more complex techniques.**

 **Swordsmanship has risen to level 2**

 **Swordsmanship has risen to level 3**

 **You have gained a new skill:**

 **Shield Mastery: The ability to use a shield effectively, block, attack, throw and other actions. Allows more complex techniques.**

 **Shield Mastery has risen to level 2**

 **Shield Mastery has risen to level 3**

 **You have gained a new ability:**

 **Shield Bash: The ability to use a shield to inflict damage on a target by reinforcing the arm with aura, and smashing it into the enemy.**

 **Shield Bash has risen to level 2**

 **Aura Manipulation has risen to level 4**

 **Aura Reinforcement has risen to level 5**

Grinning at the new selection of skills and his first ability, he felt ready to take on more of the ant hill.

'Experience, loot, skills, HERE I COME!'


	5. Chapter 5

**Jaune Arc**

 **Titles: [The Gamer], [The Grimm Hunter]**

 **Level: 9**

 **Exp: 50/9000**

 **HP: 695 (*Author note: Mistake spotted, 1 Endurance = 10 hp, forgot to apply to HP, my bad)**

 **AP: 1475**

 **SP: 205**

 **Stats:**

 **Might: 6 [21]**

 **Vitality: 13**

 **Endurance: 7**

 **Dexterity: 20**

 **Speed: 16 [31]**

 **Intelligence: 3**

 **Wisdom: 6**

 **Charisma: 7**

 **Luck: 20**

 **Points: 30**

 **Inventory:**

 **1200 Lien**

 **Hunter's Bow**

 **Perks:**

 **Arc Bloodline**

 **Runner**

 **Skills:**

 **Gamer's Mind**

 **Gamer's Body**

 **Observe: Level 5**

 **Tracking: Level 5**

 **Sneak: Level 10**

 **Sneak Attack: Level 4**

 **Axe Mastery: Level 3**

 **Expert Survivalist**

 **Physical Conditioning: level 1**

 **Aura Manipulation: level 6**

 **Aura Reinforcement: level 8**

 **Swordsmanship: Level 9**

 **Shield Mastery: Level 8**

 **Abilities:**

 **Shield Bash: Level 4**

 **Equipment:**

 **Sword and Shield**

 **Grimm Mask (Beowulf)**

 **Locket of Mana Regeneration**

Jaune had been _grinding._

Descending and ascending through the never-ending tunnels, his sword rose and fell like a weight of iron, as his skills improved, his level increasing.

He had gathered a hefty sum of lien, 3 levels, and vast skill improvement to boot!

Even sneak and tracking had improved, as he clung to the shadows of the cave, stopping his light on rare occasions, tracking them by following the trail left by the skill, and leaping forward at the sound of their mandibles clicking against each other. It was truly a novel experience.

But after killing so many ants, it seemed like the hive was producing a counter-reaction, by sending something else.

It was heavy, and far larger than anything before it. It was huge compared to it's brethren, with 3-4 meters in length, and was quite wide. It had red markings on it's head, with black streaks appearing at it's joints.

He instantly fell into a basic sword-stance, and readied himself.

 **Myrmecia**

 **Class: Soldier**

 **Level: 12**

 **Special Condition: Armored**

 **HP: (300-base amount) [865-Vit and END included]**

 **SP: (50) [260]**

 **Might: 24**

 **Vitality: 17**

 **Endurance: 14**

 **Dexterity: 6**

 **Speed: 18**

 **Intelligence: 3**

 **Wisdom: 2**

 **Luck: 3**

It was no longer an easy fight, no, it looked like things were starting to heat up. It was still considerably weaker than him, but the thing was not something to be careless around. That special status warned that much, it was his first time encountering something like that. Not to mention it had both wisdom and intelligence, which lead him to believe that it had gained intelligence over a long period of time.

It was most surely a stronger fighter than the beowulf.

It was only an easy to medium fight because he had aura, and nothing else.

Raising his shield high, the sword was readied to swing, an improvement to how he attacked earlier, basing himself on nothing but counters.

It was still crude, but slightly better.

The grimm stared him down, not daring to make a move. It's gaze was so intense, that Jaune felt like it was looking for something special.

And after a few more seconds, it seemed like it found it.

Kicking it's back legs, it snarled and roared, before taking off. Jaune reinforced his body and blocking arm, ready to take the charge head-on.

The grimm ran forward, towards him, at top speed, crossing the distance between them, a measly 5 meters, in a few seconds, and slamming into his shield.

The mass of the grimm, along with the speed that it crashed at, and it's might, caused a huge amount of force, a force that Jaune heavily underestimated. And as a result, he felt his shield digging into his chest, his arm squashed under it, as he was launched into the cavern wall, shaking it heavily.

Blinking rapidly, he tried to regain focus, as he saw the grimm shake it's head from the impact and prepare a second charge.

Gripping his heater shield strongly, seeing it dent ever so slightly after the impact, he made a quick realization.

He had underestimated the being.

Checking his aura and hp fast, he noticed instantly a problem.

Since he was lighting up the room with aura manipulation to his sword hand, and reinforcing himself, his aura wasn't regenerating, but was neither degrading, which meant that the impact taken wouldn't be regenerated.

And an impact it was.

 **HP: 695/695**

 **AP: 1131/1475**

Gritting his teeth at his own arrogance, he pushed the heater shield onto the ground, and lifted himself, his eyes never leaving the form of the grimm.

He decided that he would need everything he could muster to win this, and so he took off the lighting on his arm.

It faded away in mere seconds, as complete darkness shrouded the cave. Blinking, as his eyes started adjusting to the dark, he finally decided that it might have been a bad idea.

It was then that the creature took advantage of the situation, and while he couldn't see it, he could surely hear the cracking of rocks, it's loud steps filling the room with a disturbing sound. He waited, based on the closeness of the sound and it's earlier demonstration of speed. Tightening his leg muscles, he prepared for the jump, until he felt the perfect moment.

'NOW!'

Jumping into the air, right when it came below him, he smashed his head into the ceiling of the cave, sticking into the wall. Placing his hands on the walls, he pushed and hit the ground like a rock. Groaning, he got up, only to fall back down, when the monster hit the wall and made the cave shake.

He got up again, staring into the direction he heard the sound, turning his body fully against it.

It was then that his ability decided to make it's bullshit presence known.

 **Due to fighting in the dark for an extended period of time, you have gained a new skill:**

 **Night vision: Level 1**

 **Due to your performance in avoiding enemies, you have gained a new skill:**

 **Acrobatics: Level 1**

Grinning, he suddenly could see better into the veiled environment, not much, barely make out a few shapes close to him, but it was still improvement. And his body also felt slightly more relaxed

Then he realized one thing, and that was that this was the perfect place.

To grind his skills.

The thing couldn't hit him, and he could keep fighting for as long as he wanted, meaning that his skill would rise endlessly.

 **Due to your careful planning, your WIS has risen by one.**

'Yup, that's some quality planning right there.'

And so, a cycle of repeating actions was formed.

The grimm would charge, he would dodge, it would crash into the wall, and his skill would rise.

 **Night vision has risen to level 2**

A loud crash resounded.

 **Acrobatics has risen to level 2**

 **Acrobatics has risen to level 3**

 **Night vision has risen to level 3**

 **Night vision has risen to level 4**

Another series of crashes.

And this continued until...

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **Night vision has risen to level 49**

 **Acrobatics has risen to level 31**

His skill had reached the point where he could see the thing's health bar, at 20 meters away after crashing into the wall.

It also apparently took 3 damage from the crash into the wall.

'3 FUCKING DAMAGE!'

Sighing, he guessed he found out what that status meant, the thing was as tough as a tank.

He guessed, that he had spent about 2 hours or more grinding these skills.

It was interesting to see them rise, feel himself getting better, and watching the improvement himself in such a short period of time was just another plus.

Finishing his grinding routine, he decided to end it.

Flourishing his sword in hand, his aura having long since reaching full, his shield held high, he dashed forward, his superior speed coming into play. Reinforcing his body, to further advance his advantage, he reached the ant almost instantly, and the something happened.

All he wanted was to kill it, but however, his swordsmanship skill, his shield mastery, and his acrobatics skill all merged into one, to pull of something incredible.

The ant rose it's head slightly, preparing to smash into the ground, it's feet raised towards him.

He twisted around the sharp legs, diving deep inside, under it, using his shield to deflect the right mandible while dodging the left, and striking the grimm in the underbelly, ramming his sword as deep as he could.

The result span around his head for a short time, as he launched himself backwards, the grimm retreating ever so slightly at the sudden aggressive advance.

'How, and WHY did I deal 9 damage!? This is BULLSHIT, by the time i attack again it will be full HP!'

Staring back at his opponent, he tried to find something to base his attacks on, a weakness in the enemy.

Narrowing his eyes, he smiled.

He had found it.

Dashing again, this time, far more confident, his mix of skills came into play yet again, he dodged the defenses of the thing, and instead of going for the underbelly, he hit the joints of the thing.

It proved super-effective, as under the force, the joint was cut apart, the rest of the leg that had been struck falling to the ground.

Casting a quick observe, he looked back at it.

 **HP:** **726/865**

Satisfied, was the only word to describe Jaune's expression.

The beast continued it's continuous stream of attacks, alternating between quick swings of it's head, ground smashes, and charges, all aimed at Jaune's weak spots in his stance, a testament of it's intelligence.

But however, the superior speed and dex were far too much for it to hit, as only light blows landed on Jaune, who, in return, showered the larger monster with attacks at the joints.

It wasn't long until all of it's legs were cut off, and the creature was left with under 100 hp.

Figuring that the fight was mostly over, Jaune force opened the monster's maw, and stuck his heater shield inside, and then, drawing back his sword, split it's jaws from the inside with brutal movements, since sheer might wasn't enough.

He nudged the sword deep, moving it and tearing the grimm apart.

It died, half drowning in it's own life essence.

It was terrifyingly simple to do, and Jaune felt nothing, because he had finished the job.

The mutilation of the grimm was nothing but a needed action.

Stretching his back, he looked around for any other enemy, and upon finding none, moved the notifications of his ability in front of him.

 **You have gained 3000 EXP**

 **You have gained 1500 lien**

 **Swordsmanship has risen to level 10**

 **Swordsmanship has risen to level 11**

 **Shield Mastery has risen to level 9**

 **Shield Mastery has risen to level 10**

 **Acrobatics has risen to level 32**

 **Night vision has risen to level 50**

 **Aura Reinforcement has risen to level 9**

 **Aura Reinforcement has risen to level 10**

 **Observe has risen to level 6**

Jaune looked at the number of skill improvements with pride, and joy.

It felt like he could take on the world!

Grasping his sword a little bit more solidly, he decided to take a look at his newest skills, and so pulled out his skill list.

He found some interesting results.

 **Skills:**

 **Gamer's Body**

 **Gamer's Mind**

 **Observe: Level 6**

 **Tracking: Level 5**

 **Sneak: Level 10**

 **Sn** **eak Attack: Level 4**

 **Axe Mastery: Level 3**

 **Expert Survivalist**

 **Physical Conditioning: level 1**

 **Aura Manipulation: level 6**

 **Aura Reinforcement: level 10**

 **Swordsmanship: Level 11**

 **Shield Mastery: Level 10**

 **Acrobatics: Level 32**

 **Night Vision: Level 50**

 **Observe has surpassed level 5: In-depth description is now available.**

'Well that makes it simple.'

Shrugging at the description, he checked the Night vision and Acrobatics skills.

 **Acrobatics: level 32**

 **The User's ability to perform acrobatic actions. (Balance, Agility, Motor Coordination) It influences all actions linked with grace of movement. (Dancing, Walking on slippery surfaces...) Increases Dexterity gain and unlocks incorporation of acrobatic movement in fighting style based on skill level.**

 **Night Vision: level 50**

 **The User's ability to see in the dark. Only unlockable if the user's has aura. This skill derives small amounts of aura to the eyes to better sight in dark places. Consumption is almost null.**

Nodding at the description, he found himself also questioning the difference in level between the two skills.

Night Vision leveled up faster than Acrobatics, and he also saw that the last level gained in Acrobatics came after 4 levels of Night vision.

He guesses that the reasons were probably somewhere among these lines.

Night Vision needed two conditions to be leveled (1: be in combat, 2: be in a dark location), while Acrobatics probably didn't need any conditions to be leveled.

And the fact that Night Vision was an easier skill to master compared to Acrobatics.

It was then that the ability answered.

 **Acrobatics: level 32**

 **127/740 EXP to next level**

 **100 - Base amount**

 **20 - Experience limit increase per skill level**

 **Night Vision: level 50**

 **17/150**

 **50 - Base amount**

 **2 - Experience limit increase per skill level**

Jaune was taken by surprise, the apparition of the blue screen being far more unusual than the rest of the times. It was almost like the game felt his confusion, and tried to answer as fast as possible and to the best of it's ability.

He couldn't help but imagine the ability like a puppy.

The idea made him snicker.

Shaking his head, he pulled out all the other skills that he felt were important to level at the moment.

Tracking was one of them, since he'd need every bit of help in figuring out enemy positions. Crashing head-first into a group of these type of myrmecia, certainly didn't seem like a good idea, much rather a nasty one.

Observe was needed too, since apparently, leveling it up unlocked new information of the ability.

Sneak and Sneak Attack, for obvious reasons.

Aura Manipulation and Aura Reinforcement, because he needed to know more about they way he could use aura. And the need of information for two of his most badass skills.

And finally, Swordsmanship and Shield Mastery, since, by the looks of things, would probably be the things he'd specialize in.

He opened all of the up.

 **Tracking: Level 5**

 **113/150 EXP**

 **100 - Base Amount**

 **10 - Experience limit increase per skill level**

 **The ability of the user to track the marks left behind by other being, and identify them through them. Leveling this skill also affects the amount of time that can pass before the tracks become unreadable, the ability to identify the species of the target, and how much of the tracks you can read.**

 **Observe: Level 6**

 **361/7000 EXP**

 **1000 - Base Amount**

 **1000 - Experience limit increase per skill level**

 **The ability to obtain information from the target on which observe is used. May it be a rock, a grimm, a human, or the interface of The Gamer itself. Information obtained increases by level of skill.**

 **Sneak: Level 10**

 **1741/3150 EXP**

 **150 - Base Amount**

 **300 - Experience limit increase per skill level**

 **The ability to walk unseen and unheard by various beings. Leveling the skill affects how efficient you are at sneaking.**

 **Sneak Attack: Level 4**

 **236/900 EXP**

 **500 - Base Amount**

 **100 - Experience limit increase per skill level**

 **The ability to attack a target while sneaking, for a suprise attack that deals bonus damage. Is influenced mainly by the level of Sneak. Leveling this skill affects how much bonus damage you deal, and it's usability against alert enemies. (For example, sneak attacking a deer that isn't aware of your presence is much more simple than sneak attacking a huntsman that has been made aware of your presence, and has his guard up.)**

 **Aura Manipulation: Level 6**

 **741/3500 EXP**

 **500 - Base Amount**

 **500 - Experience limit increase per skill level**

 **The User's ability to direct aura in his body for various means. (Such as Reinforcement) It affects all Aura based skills strictly on their cost, lowering it, the higher it's level is. Leveling this skill unlocks new aura-based skills.**

 **Aura Reinforcement: Level 10**

 **1926/3100 EXP**

 **100 - Base Amount**

 **300 - Experience limit increase per skill level**

 **The User's ability to use aura through Aura Manipulation to reinforce muscle tissue, bones, and others, for greater strength and resistance. Leveling this skill affect the amount of improvement gained by using this skill.**

 **Swordsmanship: Level 11**

 **831/2500 Exp**

 **300 - Base Amount**

 **200 - Experience limit increase per skill level**

 **The User's ability to use swords in combat. This skill can be affected by other skills (such as Acrobatics or Shield Mastery, if a shield is being used). Leveling this skill affects the user's ability to use swords, by improving the technique and footwork of the user.**

 **Shield Mastery: Level 10**

 **182/2400 Exp**

 **300 - Base Amount**

 **210 - Experience limit increase per skill level**

 **The User's ability to use shields in combat. Leveling this skill affects the user's ability to use shields, by lowering stamina needed for blocking and deflecting, and using shield based abilities, while raising their power.**

He nodded at seeing all of the results, his theory confirming itself. Since tracking needed the most conditions to be used, it also leveled the easiest, Swordsmanship and Shield Mastery being at a medium rate of leveling, while Aura Manipulation was one of the hardest to level, since it didn't need any conditions to be used.

Observe seemed to be a skill that was slightly out of the equation, but still fit the bill, since it was the hardest one to level.

Putting a hand across his jaw, he pushed, his neck making a satisfying crack, as Jaune stretched ever so slightly.

He felt ready, but meeting the creature had humbled him slightly, because he underestimated something that could have been dangerous. If he hadn't given it his full attention, it might have ended bad for him.

'Note to self, overestimation of self and underestimation of enemy will get me killed...and if not killed, just hurt, realllllllllllllly badly. Now, that I got that out of the way, how about spending those stat points of his into something.'

Nodding, he mentally called out his status window, ready to spend them on what was needed.

The blue screen popped out, and Jaune was slightly surprised, not by the quick appearence, but by the way it had been arranged to suit his current needs.

 **Jaune Arc**

 **Available Stat Points: 30**

 **Might: 6 [21]**

 **Vitality: 13**

 **Endurance: 7**

 **Dexterity: 20**

 **Speed: 16 [31]**

 **Intelligence: 3**

 **Wisdom: 6**

 **Charisma: 7**

 **Luck: 20**

 **Observe has surpassed level 5: Further stat description has been created.**

An eyebrow was raised in curiosity and confusion.

'Wasn't I given the full stat description the first time? So I'm getting more info on the same stats?" He started the string of questions as a thought and ended it as a quiet mutter.

Quickly casting observe on every stat, he received the additional information, all in one screen.

 **Might is the stat that directly influences one's presence on the battlefield.**

 **Vitality is the stat that directly influences the rate of survival of lethal blows. Theoretically speaking, if one's vitality is high enough, they may survive a decapitation, along with it's after-effects.**

 **Endurance is the stat that influences the mental discipline of a fighter, allowing them to become stronger in mind. The effects of torture and other mind-shattering experiences are reduced.**

 **Dexterity is the stat that influences one's grace, both in day-to-day life and in combat.**

 **Speed is the stat that directly influences one's instincts and reaction speed, along with the tracking ability of the eye against moving objects.**

 **Intelligence is the stat that directly influences one's ability to find new choices. In a situation where a normal person sees only one option, a person with high intelligence may see 3, 4, or even more options. High intelligence unlocks new dialogue in academic domains.**

 **Wisdom is the stat that influences one's ability to make the best choice out of all options present. High wisdom unlocks new dialogue.**

 **Charisma is the stat that influences one's ability to convice other people to share their point of view, may it be minor influence, or even out-right manipulation.**

 **Luck is the stat that, depending on how many points of luck you have, can influence enemies in a negative way. If one's luck is incredibly high, a sniper who has never missed a shot, may miss if he fires onto the person with the high luck, not because of his own mistake, but because of the luck involved.**

Jaune blinked at the mass of new-found details that Observe had given him.

So apparently, stats influenced more than just overall strength, that was something to note.

Maybe he should consider spending some more points into intelligence and wisdom.

Shaking his head, he figured he had fought enough for the day, it was probably night by now.

"Night?!"

He couldn't remember the exact time he left his home, nor could he remember how long he stayed, and neither could he estimate.

His family would be worried if it was night, and there was no one in his room after they sent someone to call him to dinner.

Shaking his head furiously, he realised a fairly large problem.

He couldn't remember where was the exit, and neither could he track his steps back, they were too old.

Panic gripped his heart, before a forceful feeling of calmness slammed into his being, as he calmed down.

'Gamer's Mind!' He realised quickly, before sighing, and gathering his wits.

'Okay, so it's an myrmecia hive, right? I remember dad saying that he fought in one back in the day, and that it had a bunch of exits in case the hive was attacked, or they were attacking. That probably means that there must be more exits around here, right?'

 **Night Vision has risen to level 51**

'And, of course, I didn't forget about you, now didn't I? With night vision this high, I won't be wasting aura either! Now then, how do i find the exit tunnels?'

Jaune stood there, unmoving, staring at nothing while trying to find out what to do.

Seconds became minutes, as time moved on without regard of the thinking teen.

Until the teen suddenly opened his status window, and then dumped all 30 points he had gained into Intelligence.

 **Intelligence has been increased to 33 from 3**

 **AP has been increased to 2225 from 1475**

Sitting down, cross-legged, he started to think of a solution again.

What does an exit tunnel present, that a normal tunnel doesn't.

And that's when the thought struck him.

'WIND!'

The wind from the outside, the minor air current, that's what it had, and a normal tunnel didn't.

Jumping to his feet, flourishing the sword, and hoisting the shield from the dead ant's maw, he started sprinting around, trying to catch even a whif of wind.

It was after a few seconds, that he stopped dead into his tracks, and then, his head shot up.

He had felt cold win, brush against his scalp, and climb down his face, so the only way was out.

He stared out, and finally saw why he didn't see the opening from the first time.

With his Night Vision the inside and outside of the tunnels were pretty much the same.

Reinforcing his legs heavily, he tensed his legs, and then, stopped his reading, pulled off his shield and shoved it, along with the sword into his inventory, so he would weigh less.

Regathering aura into his legs, and tensing the muscle, he jumped as high as he could, soaring past the exit of the cave, which had been 5 meters high compared to where he used to be, and went above it by a good 10 meters, before finally starting his descent.

Acrobatics took over, as he span mid air, and landed a tumbling landing, to disperse the impact and cause minimal damage. Rolling, he smoothly got up to his feet in a single motion, and then re-took his sword and shield from his inventory, as he stared at the sky.

Night vision seemed to be still on, because while it was light outside for him, the sun was most surely, not fractured.

Gripping his sword tightly, he turned around, and saw the mountain. It was by pure chance, that the angle from which he saw the mountain had been the exact same as the one that he saw it from when he had arrived.

Not having any time to waste, he pushed his legs to the limit, reinforcing them as much as he could, as he ran towards the general direction of his house, top speed.

It took mere seconds to breach the tree-line, as his legs crackled at the effort.

The scenary around him became a blur.

It wasn't long before he had finally found what he had been looking for, and that was the wall of his village.

He didn't bother to go through the same hole he had last time, that would take too much time.

Instead, he slowed down slightly, and got down to his knees, before launching off. He vaulted over the wall, one hand having been placed to create a better landing.

Crashing into his backyard, he climbed the back of his house, and entered his room through his window.

The moment he entered his house, and placed the sword and shield back into his inventory, he heard the door handle click.

He turned around, and placed his hands on the window ledge, to hide his red face and tried to calm down his rapid breathing.

His little sister burst into the room, Sapphire, to be exact.

She swung the door open, calling his name out cheerfully.

"Jaune!~~~Dinner time!"

He turned around, faking a calm breath, before smiling lightly at her from the window, moonlight shining into the room and brightening his face.

He got up from his position, and started walking towards the door, his sister grinning all the time.

"This is the first time that I find you after about 3 months, not playing games on your computer, but instead, of all other things to do, you're staring out the window."

Her eyes gleamed, filled with mirth and mischief.

"Is it a girl?!" She burst out, excited beyong belief.

Jaune couldn't help it.

He snorted out his answer, a short " I wish!"

His sister burst out into light snickers, before turning around and going down the stairs, with him following closely.

And upon reaching the living room, he saw his family, even his father, smiling at him, and he couldn't help but feel like the luckiest man alive.

But a part of him wondered, just how long will this last.

'But I guess that, for now, I'll make the most out of it!'


End file.
